Tobio has always been more comfortable in the shadows. It's safer, there, people tend to pass over him more easily. It's harder for them to want to leave if they forget that he's there. It's what makes his friendship with the biggest ball of sunshine so unlikely.
If he hasn't ruined that by now.
It was a slow thing at first. They needed each other to play on the court, and somehow, over the years, that need developed into something off of the court too, something that Tobio can barely acknowledge for fear that if he does, it will become real, or he'll mess it up and he'll lose it forever.
A knock sounds at his door, making Suga stir awake in his arms. Suga, who has never once—not even after he'd found out that most of the team he spent years playing volleyball with were all vampires at a rather disastrous team slumber party—turned his back to anyone in this house. Maybe Hinata won't either, if he tells him the truth. He watches him come awake, eyes hazy and unfocused as he sees Tobio watching him. Tobio wonders, as he lets Suga slip from his arms, if Suga truly grasps how much everyone in this house needs him, if he knows how much of a steadying presence he is.
He sits up as Suga opens the door and nearly collides with Daichi, getting up and moving to turn on his space heater. He's been so cold for the last week, the voluntary fast from blood leaving him chilled and cold.
It was worth it if Hinata is safe.
He sits back down on the bed, resting his head in his hands in the darkness, a sliver of light painting a line of gold from the hallway across his floor through his open door. It's not that he doesn't want Hinata's blood—his craving for the taste of Hinata is so strong that he can barely control it—it's that he doesn't want to push away the one person who has never left his side by taking away the one thing he cares about: volleyball. Their synergy on the court is something he doesn't want to risk, and he constantly worries about taking too much from him, limiting his game by weakening him in order to strengthen himself. Hinata has never failed to run faster, jump higher, never failed to follow Tobio's every lead, trusting him to get the ball to him, make him better.
Tobio is terrified of letting him down. Of ruining that amazing potential that Hinata is just now starting to tap. He's been playing better, too, since Tobio stopped feeding. He hears Hinata protesting as Suga pushes him up the stairs, feels his stomach turn over with nerves, but that's all the time he has before Suga shoves Hinata gently through the door and snapping it shut behind him with a loud click in the silence.
Hinata walks towards him slowly in the dark, managing to cross the floor fairly successfully until he runs into Tobio, falling, quite literally, into his arms with a yelp. A soft laugh slips free from Tobio before he can stop it, and he pulls Hinata into him, hugging him tightly and burying his nose into the soft curls of his hair as he falls back onto the bed with Hinata's momentum.
"Hey," He says, whispering as Hinata squirms into a more comfortable position pressed against his side, head pillowed in the hollow of his shoulder.
"Hey yourself," Hinata says back, mild annoyance coloring his tone. "What's your problem been lately."
"Nothing, idiot, what's yours?" It's an automatic response to a routine question, too used to their usual form of banter that it slips out before he can stop it. He feels Hinata stiffen against him, pulling away slightly. Tobio tightens his arms around Hinata. "No, don't go." He pleads, hating how desperate he sounds, but it works, as Hinata relaxes back into him slightly. "I'm sorry I've been avoiding you lately."
"You can make it up to me by telling me why," Hinata says, not budging in his resolve to know what is going on with him.
"Why must you always make things so difficult," Tobio sighs, trailing a hand slowly up Hinata's back without thinking.
"Me?" Hinata says, incredulity coloring his tone. "Look, bakayama, I'm not the one who has been running away whenever we end up alone together." He props himself up on an elbow, looking down at him from his position tucked against his side. "I'm just glad it hasn't affected our playing. Yet."
"Is that all you care about?"
"I care about...other things too."
Tobio doesn't miss the way Hinata's eyes flick over to his when he pauses over his words. Hinata is not one to censor his thoughts, so the hesitation is quite telling.
Tobio, against his every instinct, begins to hope.
"What about you?" Hinata asks suddenly, catching Tobio off guard.
"What about me?"
"Do you like...other things besides volleyball too?"
Tobio breathes, wondering if Hinata could be hinting at what Tobio hopes he's hinting at. He takes a moment to think through about seven different responses, rejecting each one as he thinks of it, before responding with a simple "I do," that works on a number of levels, keeping him safe if, in a rare show of desynchronization, they aren't on the same page. When he feels Hinata's heartbeat pick up at his answer, he knows that they are, like always—even when they're fighting—on the same page.
Tobio is frozen in place, afraid to move for fear that he'll snap whatever is starting to grow between them in this moment, tenuous and new and fragile. He can barely breathe, the feeling of something huge rushing towards him suffocating him for a long moment.
In the end, it's Hinata that makes the first move, leaning in slightly to brush the tip of his nose along the underside of Tobio's jaw, his breath tickling the skin of Tobio's neck. Tobio releases the breath he was holding, relief and excitement blending euphorically in the pit of his stomach. Slowly, afraid he'll spook away, Tobio slides a hand up Hinata's back, along the smooth skin of his neck, to cup his jaw and pull him forward slowly, so slowly, and turns his head to face Hinata. They're eye to eye, nose to nose, inches away from each other.
Tobio can barely make out Hinata's features in the darkness, and maybe that's why it's so easy to press his lips to Hinata's in the gentlest of kisses. The warmth and utter darkness of his room creating a safe place where Tobio doesn't worry about how this gesture will be received. And it's not that Tobio hasn't ever kissed Hinata before—although this is the first time he's kissed him full on the mouth—it's that this time, he isn't doing it to heal a bite, he's doing it to prove something to Hinata.
Tobio gets it. He understands now, why it's so hard for Daichi to let Suga go and do things with other people. Understands why Daichi has a specific drive to protect Suga. Because when your best friend in the world is the one who gives you life, in every sense of the phrase, you'll do anything to keep them safe.
Like go two weeks without blood.
Hinata lets out a tiny gasp, lips parting slightly against Tobio's as he processes the implications of what is happening; how this will change their relationship. Tobio pulls away slightly, separating them by a breath while Hinata thinks, willing to wait until he's sure this is what they both want. He knows Hinata's made up his mind when he closes the small gap between them, lips moving against his own with a new urgency. Tobio surrenders to the warmth of Hinata's kiss—he's always so much warmer than Tobio—and slides his hand from his jaw and into the mess of curls, tangling his fingers in the soft strands, the action dragging a small whimper out of Hinata. And he wants this, he really does, but now that he has a taste of Hinata his hunger flares and he knows he needs to fix that before he does anything else.
"Shouyou," he says softly, breaking off the kiss and nuzzling into his neck. "As nice as this is, I'm really hungry."
Hinata makes a small noise of protest, kissing along his jaw and threading his fingers in Tobio's hair. "Your hair is very soft." He whispers against the shell of Tobio's ear.
The blatant desire in Hinata's voice sends heat pooling at the base of his spine. Tobio stifles a groan into the soft skin of Hinata's neck. "I promise we'll go right back to this but Shouyou please." He pauses, drags his mouth up until his lips are brushing against Hinata's ear. "I need you, Shouyou."
Hinata's hands tighten in his hair, pulling on the strands briefly. Hinata nods his consent as he releases a shaky breath.
So fast he knows Hinata doesn't have time to react, he extends his fangs and bites into his neck, drinking eagerly. The small amount of blood he took from Suga earlier is what keeps him in control now, stops him from taking a dangerous amount from Hinata. But while Suga's blood is nice¸ sweet and warm like Suga, it's the fiery burn of Hinata's blood that he craves, that he can't live without. Hinata's gasp of shock quickly turns to a long, drawn out moan, that definitely should not be as hot as it is. He's always wondered what the bite feels like to Hinata, what his bite, specifically, feels like to him.
Tobio counts to twenty, measuring the counts to the beat of his slower heart, before withdrawing, hunger satiated enough for now. He quickly licks over the marks, easing the sting and starting the healing, before using the tip of one of his fangs to poke a small hole in his tongue. He kisses Hinata, letting his blood slowly make its way into Hinata's mouth. This is literally the only useful thing he's ever learned from Oikawa (that complete asshole), who casually mentioned giving familiars a few drops of your blood to help them regenerate blood at incredible speeds, putting less strain on their bodies, last week in practice. He pulls away to mutter a quick command to swallow, Shouyou, before kissing him again, deeper this time as he sweeps his tongue possessively around Hinata's mouth.
Tobio is burning from the inside out, his fingers tingling with the rush of new blood to them, and he finally feels warm for the first time in a week. He kisses Hinata, again and again, until he's out of breath. Hinata pulls back, changes the angle, and moves back in, starting to push back at Tobio, changing the pace of their kiss to something more urgent, his lips insistent in the way they nip at Tobio's bottom lip.
He's doing fine, really, until Hinata—in a motion so smooth it almost feels rehearsed—throws one leg over Tobio, straddling his waist and grinding down with a slow roll in a way Tobio didn't even know he could move.
Tobio stutters, gasps, pauses.
Hinata freezes, suddenly aware of their position or of what he just did, and pulls away slightly. "Um…" He says, face inches away.
Tobio takes a breath, exhales shakily. "Shouyou, I—"
Hinata cuts him off before he can finish his sentence. "Kageyama I really like kissing you, I think."
"You think?"
"But I don't think I'm ready to do that." Hinata says in a rush.
"Oh," Says Tobio. "Good." He presses a soft kiss to Hinata's forehead. "Neither am I."
Hinata collapses against his chest in relief, arms winding around and behind Tobio's neck, burying his face into the soft material of Tobio's shirt. Tobio idly runs his fingers up and down Hinata's back, soothing them both with the touch.
Below them, he can hear the sound of Suga leaving for the night, front door shutting with a snap behind him.
"Do you have any more work to do tonight?" He asks Hinata, arms wrapping around him to pull Hinata tighter to his chest.
"Mmmm, not that I can't do tomorrow."
"Good." Tobio shifts onto his side, rolling Hinata over onto the bed. He pulls Hinata into him, one hand pressing into the small of his back, the other tangling in his soft curls. Hinata presses a soft series of kisses along his collarbone and neck, not demanding anything, just seeking contact.
When Hinata works his way back to Tobio's lips, he feels a small part of him slot back into place. That small part of him that's always wondered if someone could love him, could manage to stick around to worm their way under his walls.
If he could ever let someone in.
He can't be close enough to Hinata. Tobio wants to crush him closer, press into Hinata as much as he can, but finds a greater sense of peace when he cradles Hinata's face in his hands, pulls away, and says, "you're my best friend."
Tobio makes his eyes adjust fully to the darkness, cutting through the shadow of the room. The effort is worth it to see Hinata's reaction. The way his eyes widen slightly, mouth parting in surprise, before beaming so brightly Tobio can see it with his eyes and feel it with his hands.
Hinata pulls him in, kissing him softly and gently, with a quieter kind of excitement rarely seen from Hinata. He moves away, just barely, to whisper "you're my best friend too," before returning to the kiss.
Tobio shudders, breathes, believes the truth that is Hinata' kiss.
He falls asleep sometime later, Hinata wrapped around him.
They don't move until all hell breaks loose the next morning.